3-Page Previews: The Loop

THE LOOP is a graphic novel by Bo Bigelow. It’s about a machine that can record and play back people’s memories. Sean, the hero of the story, uses the machine to try to solve a murder mystery. You can check out the book at whatistheloop.com.

The Loop page 46

Here we meet Sean’s love interest in the story: Lottie. It’s kind of weird for Sean to be attracted to her, since she dated his friend Russ, who’s now dead. Initially he fights it, but there’s something between them, fo sho.

The Loop page 37

This page introduces Peter Blattenburger, Sean’s boss at the college where they teach. Blattenburger is your classic windbag supervisor: although he’s often wrong, he never tires of the sound of his own voice. He sucks. I like this page because Blattenburger’s office is hard for Sean to visit. There’s nowhere to sit, just a bunch of stacked books. And the painting behind the desk is like a gigantic period on a white background. As they talk, Sean feels lost in the painting’s void.

The Loop page 87

This scene is key in helping Sean solve the mystery of the memory-recording machine. Sean’s watching TV and sees a woman, D.F. Moon, 39, arrested by FBI agents that week on federal murder charges stemming from mysterious deaths of CIA operatives in NY, VA, and DC. Sean says he wishes she looked crazy, but she doesn’t. She looks like somebody’s mom, like someone you could trust to give you a ride someplace. I like the idea of someone making outrageous claims–things that couldn’t possibly be true–and just about the time you’re thinking the person’s a total wackjob, they speak the truth about just one thing and make you wonder: “Whoa, could some of this be real?” D.F. Moon is based on a real person, a guy I met in DC in the 90s who swore that Bill Clinton and Janet Reno had orchestrated the 1993 siege against David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX.